The Crusades, the Genoese and the Latin East - DSpace at ...

Crusade had been planned and its aftermath. It will be argued here that, although the consuls
demanded a high price, Genoa promised in return to secure its entire fleet for the crusade in a
similar manner to the way Venice acted during the preparations for the Fourth Crusade.
The full meaning of the, shipping contract and the high degree of commitment to the
crusade during the winter of 1190 are evident in the notarial cartularies as well. From the time the
agreement was signed in February until the beginning of July no private contracts were made for
the Latin East except for one. This is a contract within a family, Magalda and Wuilielmus of
Jerusalem, a mother and son, on the one side and Martinus, another son of Magalda on the other.
Martinus was sent to deliver some money to his siblings, two brothers and a sister, who were
apparently left behind in Tyre 48 This contract, however, is a single exception and the transfer of
money does not interfere with the plans of the crusade. Therefore, although this is an ex silentio
argument, a study of the pattern of commerce of Genoa at the time, reveals that the absence of
commercial contracts to the Latin East in the winter and spring of 1190 cannot be a coincidence.
In return for the high transportation fee, Genoa in 1190, like Venice in 1202, secured her entire
fleet for the purpose of the crusade. Therefore, it could not allow private contracts during the
winter. Moreover, as soon as the embarkation date of the crusade passed dozens of private
contracts suddenly appear in the cartulary. The French delay in embarkation was a great
disappointment in Genoa. It was already suggested that the early embarkation of the Genoese was
timed in accordance with the arrangements made with the French. However, instead of starting
the large campaign in the autumn of 1190, the Genoese crusaders had to spent another winter
awaiting the main contingent of the French and English to arrive. It must have caused some
difficulties in Genoa too when the shipowners and suppliers learned about the delay.
One important contribution of the shipping contract was that it regulated the logistics of
the crusade. The terms agreed upon in February were valid even when the departure of the main
wave was delayed. On 06 August 1190 a contract was concluded between two Genoese
shipowners, Ansaldo Mallone and Lanfranco Malfigliastro, and the messengers of the lord of
Salins49 The messengers
specified in the contract that the lord planned to come in the company of
thirteen knights, who according to the same ratio as agreed with King Philip were to bring along
with them 26 horses and 26 squires (scutiferes): two horses and two squires per knight.
48 OS, 1190,356. See more about this family in the discussion of the Genoese inhabitants of the kingdom of
Jerusalem in Chapter Five.
49 The knights are referred to in the text as `milites domini Guacerii de Salin', but in the list of witnesses,
`milites ducis. Jean Richard, however, referred to him as the sire of Satins and he listed him in `the
contingent from Franche-Comte, with the archbishop of Besancon' and the sire of Champlitte. Jean
Richard, The Crusades, c. 1071-- c. 1291, trans. Jean Birrell (Cambridge, 1999), p. 222; Donald Queller
and Thomas Madden used an old reference to this document, and thus wrongly date this contract to 1184.
Donald E. Queller and Thomas F. Madden, The Fourth Crusade: The Conquest of Constantinople, second
edition (Philadelphia, 1997), p. 12.
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